Colin Carpenter

Wow ... thanks ...off to hunt for the CD and check out the function blocks ....

Am getting into programming my first Q project now, so thought that the Q68ADI 8 way current analogue input card would be pretty much the same as the old A1S 86ADI cards that I've been using for years, but of course it's not. Have downloaded the manual and worked out the buffer addresses of the channel data etc, but as Mitsubishi manuals go, this is probably the most baffling I've read. I'm programming in IEC, and would like to set the card up as follows: All channels enabled All channels reading 0-20 mA ( no dip switches on this baby) All channels set for count averaging with a value of 50 counts. All channels set to high resolution mode (0-12000 bits) No offset or gain considerations ( will just check the sensors at 4 and 20 mA, read the bits and work from there.) In the past ( for a card set at 00 to 1F) I used to use LDI X0 AND X0 AND (1 sec pulse) to read from the buffers to data registers, but I see that X0 (Watchdog timer) and X1 (A-D ready) have changed in the latest incarnation, so not sure what to use now. Any "hard won" advice or examples would be very welcome, Thanks.

But be aware that if they were used for Stepladder programming (as kaare says), then it's not just a straightforward conversion. If there are any STL commands in the FX programme then you need to think very carefully about how you are going to do the conversion.

Have done all that but we can't get the second port to talk to either HMI. We've set up two connections in the Q03 (Using IEC) with port numbers 0401 and 0402 (hex) which equate to 1025 and 1026 decimal, but we can't get either HMI to talk on port 1026, but either will happily talk on port 1025. Bit confused at the moment as we can quite happily ping all the IP addresses from either end of the network, though we did have to install a switch halfway down the line as we hit the 100 meter length limit without one. Tech support is a little baffled at the moment as it appears that we're one of the first to try talking to a Q03 with two HMIs at the same time.

Can't seem to get the comms going at the moment, but tech support reckon that the data exchange comms needs to be initiated by a bit in the PLC as they don't seem to think that the "time option" in the E_Designer data exchange set up box seems to work correctly. I'd left the comms error coming up last night and the screen must have thrown a wobbly during the night as I got a call to site. Turns out that a bit in the PLC (which can only be turned on by a momentary E1100 function button) had become SET in the PLC. As it was a screen GO button, this made life a bit scary during the night. Can only conclude that the screen didn't like the comms errors that were showing in the data exchange problem and sent a SET or TOGGLE command instead of a MOMENTARY command. Not sure whether to persevere with this function or do the data exchange using BDTP between the screens.

Found out today that you can use the ethernet port on the Q03UDE to talk to a Beijers E1100 via ethernet. You have to have the latest driver for the Qnn E71 comms (v4.08) and you have to set up a port in IEC Developer (or GX) in the ethernet port tab of the PLC. Set it to MC protocol and give it a hex number of 0401 (decimal 1025) and the E110 will happily talk to the Q03UDE. Am now trying to get a second E1100 to talk via ethernet to the Q03UDE as a second controller (using a second port) and trying to use data exchange to grab registers from the Q03, but am having a little trouble with that at the moment.

I like the sound of the ethernet CPU port, especially at the same price as one without. Thanks to all for their contributions, it's most useful.

I'm a little confused ... is the M8196 an internal variable in the PLC or in the HMI. I assume it must be in the HMI as if comms is lost, then the HMI would not be able to communicate with the PLC and thereby ascertain the value of M8196. If it is in the HMI, then I need to go and read the manual, as I wasn't aware that you could have internal variables in an HMI.

That one threw me as well ... all those years of E terminals and now I have to carry two cables round with me, though most of the new terminals carry an ethernet port, so a crossover cat5 cable does the job pretty well. Incidentally, I have now given up trying to use com port re-directing software to talk transparently into the PLC through a Beijers BDTP network. It all seems to work fine with one screen and one PLC, but as soon as you hook up two or more screens with a BDTP network, it all goes haywire. Pure serial still works well though.

Try BMOV (I seem to recall that works)

Regardless of what they tell us in Europe, without doubt, the best website for manuals (including old ones for kit that is no longer current) is the American site www.meau.com. But, for anyone outside of America, it always seems to be a problem to access the files ..... you always get bounced to another site that insists you go to the site for the area that you live in. The reasons for this have been discussed as IP addresses etc., and sometimes you can get in through an anonymous proxy site, but today, I learnt the simple way to do it. All you have to do is set the time zone on your PC to -6:00 Central Time (USA and Canada) and you can access the manuals properly. To do this double click the clock at the bottom right of your screen, select time zone, change to Central Time (USA and Canada), click apply and the site quite happily lets you access the manuals...

Hats off to the American site for providing a service to customers that is second to none in the Mitsubishi world. It would be great if the powers at Mitsubishi decided that it was such a good site that they should apply pressure to all their worldwide sites to offer the same levels of service, rather than forcing their worldwide customers to resort to slightly underhand tactics to access what they should easily be able to access.... if you see what I mean.

I have an E900 with an ethernet card that I use to transparently programme a Q2AS CPU via a crossover ethernet cable connected between by laptop and the E900 ethernet card. I currently use the freeware HW VSP com port director software (v2.5) that can be found at HW Group In all fairness, it works pretty well, but I find that it's a little "flakey" and quite often comes up with Winsock "Host refused connection" errors. The best way to use it is to switch it off when I've finished and start it up just before I start monitoring which seems to solve most of the issues. However the other day, I forgot to do that and managed to fault the PLC twice (flashing red light, needed a reset) purely by clicking on "online edits mode" in IEC Developer. The first time I didn't realise it was me, but the second time I certainly did. Big embarrassment and three wasted hours as running pasteurisers full of cream don't like being shut down that quickly So now I have an E1100 on my bench with a Q2AS keeping it company and thought that I'd try and find something that worked seamlessly. I don't mind paying for it if it works properly, but I've downloaded umpteen trials and can't find anything that seems to work other than the HW one. I liked the look of the freeware Lantronix 4.x software and have tried that, but I can get the E1100 to connect, but as soon as I try to send data from IEC Developer, it just shuts the port down. I know that Beijers tech people occasionally pass through here ...... just wondering if you can recommend something that works flawlessly ... am willing to cough up money if it does as it's becoming a heart stopping process every time I go online with IEC Developer now. Thanks.

After a long time away due to an excursion into the world of Allen Bradley, I finally tried the Tibbo software in anger, and it works beautifully .. no fuss, it just works and carries on working. Many thanks Kaare

Thanks for that and to Kare for sending me some files. Time ran out on me today .... but will get there soon.

I did read that thread, downloaded the info and the Lantronix V4.x software, but after an hour or so of fiddling, still couldn't get it to work. It would connect, but then drop the connection as soon as I tried to send anything. The Q2AS is fairly old, so maybe that has something to do with it. One thing I did notice, which isn't apparent, is that virtual com ports, once created, seem to "stay there" even when the software is uninstalled ..... presumably because the info is still contained in the XP registry. I have yet to find a way of removing them from the registry .... and I'm pretty sure that once allocated they stay allocated....regardless. It may also cause problems (I think it does) if you try to set up a virtual com port with the same number as one that has already been allocated.

Sorry, I can't help either. Downloaded the files and tried to open them, but the message I get is that they were created with a newer version of IEC Developer (I'm still using V7.00)

Don't worry about the "cannot allocate share memory" warning .... I regularly get that when attempting to check a POU. The best way to avoid it is to always build the programme rather than checking the POU. IEC will still work, and the message goes away after a reboot. IEC is normally very good at recovering projects that have been closed abnormally. Does IEC open and run if you don't try and open that particular file? In other words, is it IEC Developer that is having problems opening? If you have exported the project to an ASCII file for an HMI name list, you can recover the programme by importing the ASCII file back into IEC .... normally works fine. If you zip the project folder and upload it, I'd happily try and recover it, as long as the version is similar.

Thanks for that Ken, I downloaded the PDF and typed it into my programme, and am still playing with, but while doing so, I realised that there was a simpler way, based on the work I'd done yesterday with the STI (of which the Micrologix 110 has one). Using the STI as well as the HSC means that there are only 2 lines of code, as detailed below. Set up the STI File for 1000 ms with PFN #10 (in my case) Set up the HSC File to count up, with a nominal hi preset of 20,000 (greatly more than expected) and a PFN #11 (in my case) Set auto start on for both STI and HSC so that they always run. When ever the STI timer reaches 1000 ms, it will run PFN #10, so in there type the following lines. MOV HSC:0.ACC F8.0 RAC HSC:0 0 There are no lines to type in PFN#11, but it must be there. Thus, every one second, the number of pulses that the HSC has counted are moved into F8:0. This is now the frequency. RAC (reset accumulated value) resets the HSC ACC value to 0. It seems to work fine with a magnetic switch that I've wired up. Am now looking at taking the pulsed output into the HSC input to test that way. Thanks for the "heads up" on the filtering frequency for the input 0 ... that would never have shown up with my magnetic switch as I can only get to about 15 Hz waving a magnet past it by hand. However, now that I'm using the STI for this purpose, I remembered that my PID loops have an STI or Timed option, and it's a little unclear if the STI in PID speak is the same as the one in the STI file, so I've set them for 500 ms loop update time which is about 20 times as fast as the scan time (the manual suggests at least 10 times as fast) I really appreciate your help on this .... just talking to someone else helps illuminate the black tunnel that my mind sometimes resembles.

Thanks Ken, I'll check out the code in the morning (it's around midnight here) and will get back to you. Only thing is, I might have a problem with the version of the code as I'm pretty sure my version of Logix is V7.x, so I doubt if it will open the file, but I think there's a go chance I can sort it out now ... the info regarding the S:4 timer is invaluable. (I'm a little new to the AB world, having mostly worked with Mitsubishis in my time) Thanks again

I've now sorted out the STI .... just the HSC left to do now, and wondering how to simulate it on the bench ....

Just an update to say that I've decided to use a 1761-NET-AIC+ connected to the serial port on the 5/05 by cable 1747-CP3 or 1761CBLAC00, then to use a 1763-NC01 cable to connect the Micrologix 1100 directly into the DH485 of the AIC+, with the cable being split, connected to terminals, then using Belden RS485 spec cable between the panels. Think it should do the job.

Hi, I have a project where I'm programming a Micrologix 1100 which needs to communicate a small amount of data backwards and forwards between itself and an already installed SLC 5/05 CPU. Speed is not really an issue on this job, so update times measured in whole seconds is not an issue. Both PLCs have ethernet ports, but the client is not happy about using the ethernet ports for this "mission critical" data, as the corporate and SCADA systems are already using the physical hard wiring of the ethernet network, and occasionally there are problems with this. Based on experience, please could anyone advise on the best method of achieving short distance secure comms between the two PLCs. Many thanks, Colin

Thanks for the replies, and it seems that there are issues to be wary of whenever connecting to ethernet networks used by others. I'm currently investigating the methods of connecting the Micrologix RS232 port to the 5/05 port using DF1 protocol, but would prefer to use the inbuilt DH485 capability of the MIcrologix as it would be more resistant to noise and distance. Just means that I have to find a way of getting the 5/05 to talk DH485 using an external adaptor which can plug into its serial port or by using a dedicated card in one of the slots.

In the older versions of E-designer and I assume the latest version, if you set up, say, a rectangle and double click on it, you will have the option to change both the background and foreground colours. If you click on one of these, you should see the colour pallette. Hover the mouse over any of the colours and you should see the number that corresponds to it.